I’ve Always Said That Organizing Is About More Than Just Winning An Election . . .

Organizing is about empowering people to engage with their neighbors and create real, sustainable change in their communities:

Mayor Bill de Blasio, irate after a police union president called on national Democrats to keep the 2016 Democratic National Convention out of Brooklyn, quickly ordered aides to contact elected officials to denounce the union leader’s open letter, sources say.

Once Mr. de Blasio told reporters yesterday afternoon that a letter penned by Edward Mullins, the president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, was “irresponsible” and “fear-mongering,” aides to the mayor harangued local elected officials to prepare statements blasting Mr. Mullins’ letter, which ran in the New York Post and New York Times. The effort was meant to show the public that the city’s political establishment–including elected officials supportive of cops–was firmly in Mr. de Blasio’s corner.

On Humility

“Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters today that he is a ‘humble’ man when explaining why he allows taxpayers to foot the bill for his personal transportation expenses.”

Go Ahead, Kick Back And Rest Your Feet On The Otto Mann

Mr. de Blasio’s branding as a “progressive” is fiercely guarded by his public-relations team, who on Tuesday strongly rejected any suggestion that the mayor had drifted from the principles he ran on. Which is to say, not to worry because he’s definitely protecting school bus driver seniority:

In February 2013, Mr. de Blasio and the other Democrats running for mayor that year sent a letter to Michael Cordiello, the union president, urging him to end the strike but promising, if elected, to “revisit” the contracts and “take effective action to insure that the important job security, wages and benefits of your members are protected.”

[. . .]

The administration tried to get the State Legislature to pass a bill that would require employee protection provisions in future school bus contracts, but it ran out of time at the end of this year’s legislative session. So it turned to a short-term solution: paying the bus companies extra to supplement the salaries of employees who took cuts under the new contracts, restoring their salaries to their previous levels. (They will not get retroactive pay.)

The Limousine Liberal

Also, the city has TransitChek — it wouldn’t be that hard to just get a monthly pass. They could even make a video about it, like they did with composting. That still wouldn’t answer who will drive you around Italy, but it’s at least something:

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio regularly doesn’t pay for subway rides when he is conducting government business — contrary to what his office said earlier this week — and he takes personal out-of-state trips at the expense of taxpayers, aides said.

Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat who previously served as the city’s top government watchdog, allows the taxpayers to pay for nongovernment trips outside the five boroughs, a practice other elected officials with police protection decided is improper.

The mayor’s aides said Mr. de Blasio wouldn’t reimburse the city for taxpayer-funded costs such as fuel, though other politicians do.

Marti Adams, the mayor’s first deputy press secretary, said she erred this week when she told The Wall Street Journal that Mr. de Blasio pays for his subway rides and that it was an “exceptional case” on Tuesday when the Journal observed the mayor entering the subway without paying.

[. . .]

The mayor’s staff told the public that Mr. de Blasio paid for his trip to Italy, but Ms. Adams confirmed that a chauffeured white Mercedes-Benz that transported the family all over Italy was paid for by the taxpayers. She declined to provide the cost of that car.

Ms. Adams signaled that Mr. de Blasio’s stance on travel-payment issues is developing. She said the mayor “recently clarified” with his office’s legal counsel whether he should be paying for his commute since moving to taxpayer-funded Gracie Mansion.

[. . .]

Betsy Gotbaum, who preceded Mr. de Blasio as public advocate, said she reimbursed the city for nongovernment use of her city vehicle. “The mayor should pay for anything that isn’t work related,” she said.

Ms. Gotbaum said she also paid for her subway rides, even when those trips were related to city business. She said she believes Mr. de Blasio should pay for all of his subway rides, no matter the purpose.

“He is an example, and I think he makes enough to pay,” she said, referring to Mr. de Blasio, who is paid $225,000 annually. “It’s better for his image and the city’s image if he pays. People watching, seeing the cops swipe him through — it’s not a great image.”

A number of elected officials — Ms. Gotbaum, Christine Quinn, a former City Council speaker, and Bill Thompson, a former city comptroller, for example — reimbursed the city for thousands of dollars for nonwork-related trips they took in their city vehicles. Ms. Quinn also usually paid for her subway rides, no matter their purpose, an aide said.

They Were Actually Filming A Scene For “Bonfire Of The Vanities II”

Maybe you missed the vehicle tow unit sign posted at City Hall:

Mr. de Blasio had hoped for a healing moment last Thursday at City Hall, gathering police officials, clergy members and social activists to show that New Yorkers could unite after a black Staten Island man’s death in police custody. But the event quickly turned into a spectacle.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, unaware he would be asked to share the stage with William J. Bratton, the police commissioner, delivered a provocative attack on law enforcement as Mr. Bratton sat stone-faced, inches away. With Mr. Sharpton to his left and Mr. Bratton to his right, Mr. de Blasio sounded more moderator than mayor, trying to mollify both.

It hasn’t worked. By Wednesday, as police unions threatened a slowdown, Mr. Sharpton and scores of liberal activists were making plans to ratchet up pressure on City Hall, hoping to force an end to the so-called broken-windows approach to policing — cracking down on little crimes to deter bigger ones — that Mr. Bratton pioneered and that Mr. de Blasio has so far defended. “We really need to step up on this,” Mr. Sharpton told the group, recommending a march this month across the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.

Now, Mr. de Blasio is turning to his closest advisers, including the strategists who guided his mayoral campaign and crystallized his position against stop-and-frisk tactics, to help him better communicate his message.

“We don’t want to give the wrong answer,” said Rachel Noerdlinger, who like other City Hall aides interviewed for this article said the mayor was carefully trying to articulate a path toward improved relations between the police and the community.